BACKGROUND: Asthma control is suboptimal, resulting in quality of life (QoL) impairment and costs. Breathing retraining exercises have evidence of effectiveness as adjuvant treatment, but are infrequently used. OBJECTIVES: To transfer the contents of a brief (three-session) physiotherapist-delivered breathing retraining programme to a digital versatile disc (DVD) and booklet format; to compare the effectiveness of the self-guided intervention with that of 'face-to-face' physiotherapy and usual care for QoL and other asthma-related outcomes; to perform a health economic assessment of both interventions; and to perform a process evaluation using quantitative and qualitative methods...

BACKGROUND: Excessive alcohol use contributes significantly to physical and psychological illness, injury and death, and a wide array of social harm in all age groups. A proven strategy for reducing excessive alcohol consumption levels is to offer a brief conversation-based intervention in primary care settings, but more recent technological innovations have enabled people to interact directly via computer, mobile device or smartphone with digital interventions designed to address problem alcohol consumption...

BACKGROUND: Patients' behaviour in making decisions regarding health is currently changing from passive recipients to recipients who play an active role in taking action to control their health and taking self-care initiatives. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to evaluate the health seeking behaviour among general public and its associated factors; and to evaluate the medicine taking behaviour in public and the practice of self-medication. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken among general public in Penang Island, Malaysia...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This paper presents a review of the literature about the built environment as it impacts the health of older people. It then introduces the gerontological nurse and researcher to the Our Voice framework for engaging older people as citizen scientists in order to empower them as agents of change in improving their local built environment and ultimately advancing community health. BACKGROUND: Community-level strategies to promote successful ageing in place are critical both to optimising health outcomes and containing healthcare costs...

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Promoting the benefits of not drinking alcohol during social occasions where other peers may be drinking ('social non-drinking') may support more moderate drinking among young people. We analysed free-text responses from university students to gauge the frequency/focus of identified benefits of, and drawbacks to, social non-drinking. We also assessed whether/how identified benefits and drawbacks were associated with recent drinking behaviour and psychological correlates of harmful drinking...

INTRODUCTION: Women in lower income countries experience unintended pregnancies at a higher rate compared with women in higher income countries. Unintended pregnancy is associated with numerous poorer health outcomes for both women and their children. In Tajikistan, an estimated 26% of married individuals aged 15-24 years have an unmet need for contraception. The strong cultural value placed on childbearing and oppositional attitudes towards contraception are major barriers to contraceptive uptake in the country...

BACKGROUND: Pain is a frequently reported symptom by patients approaching the end of life and well-established that patients and carers hold fears relating to opioids, and experience side effects related to their use. The management of medicines is intrinsic to achieving effective pain relief. The concept of self-management support whilst well characterised in the context of chronic illness has not been elaborated with respect to end of life care. AIM: To identify patient, carer and professional views on the concept of self-management support at end of life, specifically in relation to analgesia and related medicines (for side-effect management) in order to describe, characterise and explain self-management support in this context...

AIM: This paper examines appeal to fear in general: its perceived positive aspects, its negative characteristics, its appropriate as well as its fallacious use. BACKGROUND: Appeal to fear is a commonly used marketing method that attempts to change behaviour by creating anxiety in those receiving a fearful message. It is regularly used in public health initiatives such as anti-smoking, anti-drunk driving campaigns as well as in hypertension awareness campaigns. Some chiropractors appear to use appeal to fear to promote subluxation awareness and thereby encourage the use of chiropractic treatment...

OBJECTIVES: We examined the relationship between a physical activity monitor, which measures physical activities and health behavioural factors, and behavioural changes in 70 first-year university students who consented to participate among 80 students (recovery rate, 87.5%). METHODS: We evaluated Pearson's correlation coefficients using the Mann-Whitney U-test for changes in health behavioural factors and self-efficacy and performed binomial logistic regression analysis with health behavioural factors and self-efficacy as dependent variables and life improvement effects as explanatory variables...

Background: Gap year travellers can potentially be exposed to many infectious diseases and other travel-related health problems including injuries and psychological problems. Currently, there is little information on health and wellbeing of this particular group of travellers. Methods: Participants were recruited from an organization that specialized in organising international gap year placements. Gap year travellers were asked to complete a pre-departure survey on demographics, placement destination and duration, previous travel experience, hobbies, risk taking behaviour, anticipated problems during the placement, and pre-travel preparations...

Engaging young people in the design and delivery of mental health education could lead to more effective interventions; however, few of these interventions have been evaluated. This study aimed to gain preliminary evidence with regards to the efficacy and acceptability of OpenMinds: a peer-designed and facilitated mental health literacy programme for university and secondary school students. The programme involves a structured programme of education and training for university medical students, who then deliver workshops in secondary schools...

In Niger, use of antenatal care (ANC) and iron folic acid (IFA) supplements is suboptimal. The objectives of this paper are as follows: (a) to conduct formative research to understand barriers and beliefs among pregnant women related to ANC, IFA supplementation, and pregnancy outcomes; (b) assess the quality of currently provided ANC services; (c) use the findings to guide the development of programmatic interventions to improve coverage of ANC services and IFA supplementation of pregnant women. Structured in-home interviews (n = 72) and focus groups (n = 4) were conducted with pregnant women in 4 randomly selected villages in rural Zinder...

OBJECTIVES: Prolonged sedentary time is recognized as a distinct health risk, and mortality risks are expected to be greatest for individuals with low exercise levels. It is unknown whether participation in exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs influences sedentary behaviour particularly among those patients expected to be at greatest mortality risk. This study examined the influence of CR participation on sedentary behaviour and identified the proportion and characteristics (socio-demographic and clinical) of patients who do not meet exercise recommendations and have prolonged sedentary times...

BACKGROUND: Asthma remains a leading cause of illness, where primary care can assist to reduce hospitalisations through prevention, controlling acute episodes, and overall management of asthma. In Victoria, Asthma hospitalisations were as high as 3.1 hospitalisations per 1000 population in 1993-94. The primary aims of this study are to: determine if changes in asthma hospitalisations have occurred between 2010 and 2015; determine the key factors that impact asthma hospitalisation over time; and verify whether rural and urban asthma hospitalisations are disparate...

BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) provides a comprehensive assessment of risk factor exposure and attributable burden of disease. By providing estimates over a long time series, this study can monitor risk exposure trends critical to health surveillance and inform policy debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. METHODS: We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2016...

The Examining Neighbourhood Activities in Built Living Environments in London (ENABLE London) study provides a unique opportunity to examine differences in mental health and well-being amongst adults seeking social, intermediate (affordable rent), and market-rent housing in a purpose built neighbourhood (East Village, the former London 2012 Olympic Athletes' Village), specifically designed to encourage positive health behaviours. Multi-level logistic regression models examined baseline differences in levels of depression, anxiety and well-being across the housing groups...

Research in the area of illicit substance use remains preoccupied with describing and analyzing the risks of people who use drugs (PWUD), however more recently there has been a drive to use a strengths-based or resilience approach as an alternative to investigating drug use. This leads us to ask: what can be known about PWUD from the point of view of resilience? The objective of this scoping review is to analyze how the concept of resilience is defined, operationalized, and applied in substance use research...

BACKGROUND: Indigenous smoking rates are up to 80% among pregnant women: prevalence among pregnant Australian Indigenous women was 45% in 2014, contributing significantly to the health gap for Indigenous Australians. We aimed to develop an implementation intervention to improve smoking cessation care (SCC) for pregnant Indigenous smokers, an outcome to be achieved by training health providers at Aboriginal Medical Services (AMS) in a culturally competent approach, developed collaboratively with AMS...